In the beating heart of Harlem, Ilon Gallery’s grand brownstone is bursting at the seams with artistic exuberance as it celebrates its 10-year anniversary with the vibrant exhibition eponymously titled “10”. This far-ranging showcase brings together an eclectic mix of painters, photographers, sculptors, cartoonists, AI and mixed-media artists from the gallery’s stable, deftly curated to create a visually stunning and memory lane-traversing experience.
Upon entering the gallery, visitors are immediately struck by Edwina Sandys’ “Bitten Green Apple,” an exquisite piece featuring black lacquered hands holding a bitten green apple (the aforementioned title of which might have you hearing JayZ rapping “don’t bite the apple Eve” on the soundtrack of your mind) in front of a stately yet curvaceous carved wood-framed mirror. This work sets the tone for an exhibition that seeks to introduce new entries from downtown’s jagged edge into Harlem’s cauldron of artistic output simmering on a stove of scores of years of storied avant-garde tradition.
One of the exhibition’s standout features is the dynamic chromatic duality of Ellen Sandor’s electronic “Solar Dynamo / Solar Interior” (2016), which bursts forth with gold on the video screen, adjacent to Arnold Brooks’ dramatic black and smoky white acrylic canvas “Untitled 2024.” Together, these two works form an ad hoc diptych of black and gold, evoking the opulent palette of Gustave Klimt.
The exhibition also gives great measure to the work of notable artists from the 1980s street art scene, including Christopher Hart Chambers, Rick Prol, Ken Hirastuka, Scot Borofsky, and Shalom Tomas Neuman, all of whose work has evolved and morphed over the ensuing decades. Chambers’ current series, characterized by lush growth and deep, elegant layering, is particularly noteworthy. Meanwhile the works of idiosyncratic artworld figures like writer-turned-cartoonist Anthony Haden-Guest and the king of abstract-expressionist portraiture Barnaby Ruhe’s also grace the walls.
Loni Efron’s curation is astute, with a hawk’s eye for juxtaposing works to create unexpected dialogues. Phyllis Galembo’s photograph of Indigenous South Americans, “Two Men Carrying a Sick Baby to the Hospital,” is paired with Chambers’ “Untitled,” creating a visual conversation between among other things, shades of blue.
The exhibition is also a testament to Efron’s background in photography archiving and curation, with works by giants of the medium, such as Lynn Gilbert’s iconic portrait of Julia Child (1977). This work, which captures the famed chef and television personality in a state of active thinking and movement, is a precursor to the work of Annie Leibovitz, who would later further pull the personalities of noted figures into articulated motion.
“Downtown Uptown” is a transplanted joy, a celebration of artistic diversity that brings together some of the best of downtown’s creative legions and uptown’s reflective poise.
Downtown Uptown “10’” Anniversary Show. Through February 13, 2025, Ilon Gallery, 204 West 123rd Street in Harlem
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